Daughter of Fire
by KJ Lizzy
Summary: Daughter of Zuko and Katara must save the world with only her friends and by her side. Zutara. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_**CHAPTER 1: TROUBLE IN THE FIRE PALACE**_

Royal Palace of the Fire Nation

_Crash_. Then there was an ear-piercing cry. I scrambled out of my room and into the hallway.

"Zhu?" I called frantically. I didn't like the sound of that noise. Especially coming from my little twin sisters' room.

My sixteen-year-old brother, Zhu came out of his room. "What happened, Huméi?" he asked, grabbing hold of my arm.

"I don't know," I said, frowned, "It came from the twins' room."

We both ran to Sui and Jin's (the twins) room quickly but nothing could prepare us for what happened. Jin's leg had caught on an old bookshelf that had fallen. Zhu and I ran to push the bookshelf off. It was difficult but between the both us of, we got it off. After I ripped my skirt, that is. Mom wasn't going to be happy.

"What happened?" Zhu asked. Both he and I were panting from our efforts and I was examining my red silk skirt. Both Sui and Jin were crying.

Between tears Sui answered, "Jin was going to pick up a book and it suddenly fell on her."

"I'm going to get Mom and Dad, stay here with Sui and Jin," Zhu instructed me. I nodded and he ran off. I sat there, hugging my sisters until my parents came running in.

My mom immediately scooped up Jin and hugged her so tight, I was sure that Mom would knock the breath out of poor little Jin. My mom is like that sometimes.

My dad was different. He looked at the bookshelf and then pulled something out of bookshelf's wooden back that took my breath away. A dagger.

Mom saw it and gasped. Her face was suddenly pale. She put Jin on the bed and she and Dad went out of the room to talk.

After making sure that the twins weren't watching, Zhu and I put our ears against the door to listen. Here is what we heard that I could make out, "Mai's dagger… Azula's…. movement… dangerous… keep children under... supervision… Aang… Sokka and Suki… kids…"

Zhu and I exchanged glances. My parents had tried to keep us from knowing as little as possible but we still knew some things. Such as my dad's sister, Azula, running a movement to overthrow him and Mom called the Lanxiba Movement. Mai was my Aunt Azula's friend, a non-bender with daggers hidden up her sleeves. Creepy, right? Aunt Azula also has a friend called Ty Lee who can touch you and your Bending goes away. Or if you are a non-bender, she can paralyze you. That's creepy. My mother is still scared of her after I think it was twenty-two years.

Mom and Dad soon came back in with huge fake smiles on their faces. Zhu and I exchanged annoyed glances.

"Who wants to come to Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki's with me?" Mom asked optimistically. Okay, so Mom was always optimistic but now it was sickening. I have very little patience with optimistic people.

"Us!" the twins shouted as they high-fived each other. Mom looked pleadingly at Zhu and me.

"Uh, sure we'll come," Zhu said. He didn't sound enthusiastic and only someone really desperate would really believe that he wanted to come.

"I would like to see Aunt Suki and Minshi," I said at the same time as my brother.

My mom sighed with relief. Apparently, she was pretty desperate to believe Zhu.

"Okay, so who don't the twins come with me to go get Nai and Kuhéi and then Zhu and Huméi can meet us in front of the palace. We all need a good walk and Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki's is only half a mile up the road," she said. She picked up Jin and they left with Sui following.

Zhu and I looked at our father expectantly. "Why are you two looking at me like that?" Dad asked.

"What's going on? Are we going to stay with Aunt Suki and Uncle Sokka until this whole thing with Mai's dagger blows off?" Zhu asked in a rush.

"No, your mother feels like it's too dangerous with your aunt and uncle's kids running around when my sister could be plotting to kill or capture them. Your mom wants to ask them to move in with us for a while. In addition, you'll be getting Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph plus all of their kids. I think it'll be safer with all of us," Dad answered, "Wait, how do you two know about Mai?"

"Yes! Minshi and Mei get to live here?" I asked, jumping for joy.

My dad looked at us sternly. "Don't try to change the subject," he said sternly.

"Okay, so we have listened outside your room every night for the past eight years, so what?" Zhu asked calmly. We learned long ago that the calmer we are when we tell our parents shocking news, the calmer they react.

My father's jaw dropped. "Eight years?!" he said. Okay, most of the time they're calm.

"Well, yeah," I said, "why did you keep it a secret?"

"We didn't want to scare you, sweetie. Look, this is our first time parenting, we have no idea what we're doing. You mother's mother died when she was eight and her father left soon after; the closest thing she had for a parent when she was your age is her brother. I was ignored and despised my father and sister and my mother disappeared when I was ten. We didn't have good examples. We're trying, okay?" my dad said.

I hadn't meant to get him all worked up. "Okay," I said, "But Minshi and Mei are coming, right?"

"Don't you mean Minshi, Mei, and Tanshi?" my father asked, raising an eyebrow. I could tell he was anxious to change the subject.

I made a face. "Tanshi and I don't get along. She's weird," I said.

"Be nice," Dad ordered sternly. I pouted but didn't say anything.

Who are all these people we're talking about? Well, Nai is my six-year-old sister and Kuhéi is my two-year old brother. Uncle Sokka is my mother's brother, Aunt Suki is his wife, Uncle Aang isn't really my uncle, we just call him that. Aunt Toph is his wife. Of course, she is not really my aunt either. Minshi is Sokka and Suki's eldest daughter. She's fourteen like me. She has two little sisters, Arusha-nine and Jina who is four. Tanshi and Mei are the fourteen and thirteen year old daughters of Aang and Toph. Mei is the thirteen year old and a good friend of mine. Tanshi is miss perfect and I can't stand her. They have two brothers, Chen who is fifteen and Moshu who is three.

"You better go meet your mother," my father said. Zhu and I left the room and went outside to meet Mom.

Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki's house; half mile from Palace

"Hi, Suki," my mom said cheerfully. Her optimistic attitude hadn't died away since she and Dad had talked. I had been wondering what she'd do when Dad told her we had listened at their door and knew practically everything they didn't want us to know.

My aunt Suki had just opened the door. "Hi, Katara," she answered. She must have noticed Mom's attitude because she immediately picked up on it.

We all went inside and I hugged Minshi. "Hi, Minshi," I said, smiling. I couldn't believe that I was being like Mom and Aunt Suki, but oh well.

"Good morning, Huméi," Minshi smiled. I think my mother's optimistic attitude dropped on everyone.

"Suki is Sokka home?" my mom asked.

Suki nodded, "Yes, he's out back."

"I need to talk to you two _alone_," my mom, glaring at Zhu and me. I wondered if Dad had somehow talked to her about it already.

A few moments after she and Aunt Suki left, Zhu, Minshi, and I followed. This is what we heard, "Hi Sokka… Katara…. What's wrong… Azula attacked Jin and Sui… Why… Dangerous… Come live with us… All right…"

Minshi, Zhu, and I thought that was the end of the conversation and left the door so we wouldn't be caught. However, we could have stayed for they didn't come in with their huge fake smiles for five more minutes.

"Girls, your Aunt Katara wants all of us to come over to stay with her, Uncle Zuko, and your cousins," Suki said brightly.

"Won't that be fun?" Uncle Sokka asked just as brightly. Zhu and I rolled our eyes.

"Yes!" exclaimed Arusha. Jina just grinned and clapped her hands.

"We'll be over within fifteen minutes," Suki said.

Mom, Zhu, Sui, Jin, Nai, Kuhéi, and I walked off to go ask Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph the same question.

One hill away from Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph's

"I can't believe that our cousins get to come live with us!" bubbled Sui. She and Jin were skipping hand in hand. Apparently, Jin's ankle was better. You can always count on those two to make a big deal out of something and then it was nothing the next minute.

"How much longer?" whined Nai.

"Longer!" Kuhéi clapped his chubby hands. Kuhéi often just repeated what another person said-he's only three after all.

"Just over this hill and…" my mom's sentence trailed off. I looked over the hill and my heart stopped.

Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph's house was burning-and not just from the sun. Someone had set the house to flames.


	2. Chapter 2

_**CHAPTER 2: THE LANXIBA MOVEMENT**_

Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph's house

"Oh no…" Zhu whispered. I stared with horror at the site down the hill, my mouth open.

"Zhu, take the little ones and go get your father; Huméi, come with me," my mom instructed quickly. She gave Kuhéi to Zhu and grabbed my hand.

Zhu gathered up the twins, Nai, and Kuhéi and they set off at a rather fast pace towards the palace not very far from where we were. Mom and I went at an even faster pace down to the house. Half way down, however, Aunt Toph met us.

"Katara, I'm so glad to see you!" she called. Aunt Toph is blind but she feels the vibrations in the ground with her feet (She's an Earthbender) and she can 'see' where everything is. Aunt Toph is also the only grown-up I know who doesn't wear shoes.

"What happened, Toph?" Mom asked breathlessly.

"I don't know. Moshu was outside and he keeps saying something about a girl 'making the house hot'," Aunt Toph answered.

"Is anyone hurt?" Mom asked.

"Moshu has a little burn and so does Mei," replied Aunt Toph. Mom and I saw that the kids were in the river.

"Huméi, take care of the burns," Mom ordered. She started at a running pace, Bending the water in the river and attacking the flames on the house with it.

I went over to Moshu who was crying and healed his burn quickly and did the same to Mei's. "What happened?" I whispered to Mei. Mei was a dark haired, crystal-green eyed beauty. Though no matter how beautiful she was, she was rebellious to the core. As far as I knew she had never done anything her parents told her to do and got away with it every time.

"I really don't know. I was outside going to get Moshu and I saw someone run away. The side of the house was already smoldering and Mom didn't know because she was on the other side of the house. I didn't recognize her-the person who was running, I mean," Mei answered, tossing her long curly hair behind her shoulder.

"Which direction did she go? Maybe we can follow her on ostrich-horses. Don't you still have Kai and Tai?" I asked. I wanted to catch this person.

Mei nodded and we snuck off to the barn. Mei quickly mounted Tai, leaving me with stubborn old Kai. I didn't mind because we were going to catch the criminal that burned Mei's house. Okay, maybe it's not her house but her parent's house but you know what I mean.

"Which way did she go?" I asked once we had snuck around the still smoking house. I was struggling to control Kai who was only half trained for riding.

"She just went into the woods. We'll have a hard time tracking her," Mei said.

"And we have to get back soon," I agreed.

We took Tai and Kai through the woods at a fast trot, stopping to look for footprints in the dirt. The footprints took us back to Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki's. Minshi was outside.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked, genuinely surprised to see us.

"My house was put to flames by a Firebender and we're following her," Mei explained in a hurry.

"I want to come!" exclaimed Minshi, jumping up.

"Okay. Go get your ostrich-horse and tell your parents we're going for a short ride," Mei said.

Minshi went inside and about ten minutes later came back her with her ostrich-horse, Tuma. "Come on," she said.

We all went at a relatively fast pace for thirty minutes, stopping once for lechee nuts and water on a riverside. We got very tired after sitting on Tai, Kai, and Tuma for that long.

"Wait!" Minshi said after a while, "I hear something." Sure enough there were voices coming from the north.

"Come on. It's probably a town," Mei said.

We trotted forward… and ran into an encampment with some very unsavory looking characters. And on a platform was a woman, tall, lean, and with an evil smirk on her face …my Aunt Azula.

Zhu's Journal

The entire Fire Nation is going crazy. My Aunt Azula has kidnapped Huméi, Minshi, and Mei. Aunt Azula herself came over to the palace to tell my parents that unless they renounce their claim as Fire Lord and Fire Lady, Huméi, Minshi, and Mei will be killed.

She has given them three weeks to think it over and give her an answer. As best as I can remember, for it is a bit hazy, here is what happened:

"Azula!" my father said in an accusing tone. We were all in the throne room waiting for the girls to show up.

"Hello, Zuzu," Aunt Azula said smoothly. I wondered how she had gotten in; we had guards everywhere.

My father was boiling over in rage. "What are you doing here?" he snapped.

"I am your sister," Aunt Azula said in a sickly sweet tone, "And we haven't seen each other in twenty-two years. Can't you think of a better greeting that that?"

"What do you want?" my father asked. My mother laid a restraining hand on his arm to keep him from killing her right on the spot.

"I want to inform you that I know where the three that are missing are," Aunt Azula said. She was smirking and had this I'm-going-to-win-and-you-know-it look in her eyes.

"You know where Huméi is?" I asked. I don't know why I spoke up, but I did.

Aunt Azula nodded. She didn't seem to mind. "They are in my hidden encampment. Safe. For now," she said, dropping her sweet tone into one of satisfaction.

"What do you want?" Uncle Sokka asked.

"What do you think?" Aunt Azula asked sourly. She turned to my father, "If you do not step down from that throne in three weeks, I will kill your precious little girls."

And with that she left; leaving us all in a state of shock. A few minutes later, my mom and Aunt Suki burst out crying.

"Zuko," my mom cried, "She's going to kill them!" I had rarely seen my mother cry and I felt uncomfortable about it.

"No she isn't," my father soothed, "Everyone will look for her secret encampment and rescue the girls. I'll have every person in the Fire Nation looking." My mom and Aunt Suki calmed down.

"Sokka, Aang, and I will be conducting our own search down south," Dad said.

"Dad," I said, "Chen and I want to come too."

"No," my father said decidedly, "You are to stay here with your mothers." I didn't argue. A plan was already forming in my mind.

Dad, Uncle Sokka, and Uncle Aang left and so did my mother and aunts. Only they left to check on the kids. Only Chen, Tanshi, and I were left.

"Come on," I said. Chen understood that I meant that we were going to look for our sisters no matter what my father said. Then we realized that Perfect Tanshi who had never done anything wrong in her life might tell.

"I won't tell," she said as if reading our minds, "I won't have a chance. I'm coming with you."

"What?!" both my and Chen's jaws dropped to the floor. Tanshi? Coming with us? Just kill me now why don't you? Just kill me now!

"You'll be breaking a rule," Chen reminded her.

"I'd break every rule in the world if I could save Mei," Tanshi said softly. She looked shyly up at us.

"I feel the same way about Huméi," I told her, "Except I break rules anyway."

"Okay, then. Our fathers are going south and we want to stay away from them so we must go north," Chen said. We nodded and ran off to get some ostrich-horses.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm debating wether or not I should continue the story. I think that this will be my last chapter for a while.

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_**CHAPTER 3: A TIME TO FIGHT**_

Lanxibi's Underground Prison

"So this crazy lady is your father's sister?" Mei asked. I was telling Mei and Minshi everything I knew. Which wasn't much. I nodded.

"I don't know much about her. My parents didn't even mention her; Zhu and I had to figure it out by listening at my parents' door at night," I said.

"You listen at your parents' door and get away with it?" Minshi asked.

"Oh, please!" I laughed, "They didn't even know!" Then there was a knock so sudden we all jumped.

Minshi, the first one to compose herself, said, "Come in."

Aunt Azula and two young men, one looked around Zhu's age came in and the other looked around eighteen.

"Girls," Aunt Azula said briskly, "This is Zui, your prison guard."

The older man nodded and I got a good look at him. He was straight-mouthed, sour looking, with brown eyes, dark brown hair, and tanned skin.

"Which one of you is the Princess?" Aunt Azula asked in a snappy tone. I shakily stood.

"I am," I replied.

"You will be in a different cell and your prison guard is Lan Ling," Aunt Azula said briskly.

I looked my prison guard. He probably was about Zhu's age, tall, deep gold eyes, almost black hair, paler skin than Zui, and when I looked at him, the breath was knocked out of me for some reason. I had never had the feeling before and I didn't understand it.

"Lan Ling, take the Princess to her cell," Aunt Azula said, looking me over with narrowed eyes.

"I would like to stay with my friends," I said, squeezing Minshi's hand.

Aunt Azula frowned and said tightly, "I don't care what you would rather do, missy. You will do as I say." Lan Ling nodded to the door and I went out the door, with him following. I coughed with the musty air.

"Where are we?" I asked, forgetting I was with a prison guard.

"Underground," Lan Ling answered.

"Underground?" I asked.

"Yes. That's where the prison cells are," Lan Ling said. He opened a door and we went inside. It was a little bigger than the one I had just left but just as dark. "This is where you'll be staying. I'll come over whenever I can and I can get you things like food and water," Lan Ling said uncomfortably.

I nodded and he left, locking the door behind him. I stood there for a moment and then broke down crying.

Katara's Diary

First Huméi, Minshi, and Mei, and now Zhu, Chen, and Tanshi. Around the time Zuko, Sokka, and Aang left, Zhu, Chen, and Tanshi went missing. I knew that Zhu was upset about not being able to go rescue the girls, but I didn't know he'd run away!

Suki is absolutely beside herself with worry. I looked at her earlier and then remembered the sixteen-year-old Kyoshi Warrior who had taught my brother some respect for girls and realized how much she has changed in twenty-two years.

Anyway, the twins knew that something was wrong because their older siblings were missing but I don't think they know the half of it. Thankfully they weren't there when Azula came in. Azula. I haven't seen or heard from her in twenty-two years. It makes me wonder if Ty Lee is still with them. Probably. Though I'd never admit it to any living person except Zuko and maybe-maybe-Sokka, I'm still terrified of Ty Lee. Her ability to remove one's ability to Bend and physically move is frightening. I regret not telling Zhu and Huméi anything about Ty Lee and Mai. And even Azula although I have no idea why I want them to know about her.

If I had told them something maybe then they' be able to stand their ground against them as I think they might need to. The time to fight is drawing near.

Zhu's Journal

We've searched all day and we never discovered the girls. We're following a trail that looks like it has been made recently and Chen did find a handprint that looks like Huméi, Minshi, or Mei's in the dirt next to a footprint.

I have never seen Tanshi like she is now. Determined and stubborn. She amazed me and Chen both she said, 'They went this way. See the branches that are broken. They were in a hurry.' When and where did she learn that?!

Tanshi is also the one who keeps us going. She keeps on saying, 'Look, they couldn't have gotten much farther. We're almost to the end of the north side of the Fire Nation and if it is them we are following, and I think it is, then they can't be far. Don't lose up hope. Whatever happened to never give up without a fight?' She's amazing.

Chen says that I'm falling in love with her and I think I might be. But at the moment I just want to find my sister.

Lanxiba prison hold

Over the course of the next few days, Lan Ling and I became closer. I learned that he wasn't here on purpose, only that his father agrees with what the Lanxiba Movement is fighting for and he made Ling join. I also learned that he was planning to help Minshi, Mei and me escape. I warned him about his life and he replied, 'I would rather die saving you than live under the rule of that monster.' I found that so touching. And I totally agree with him. Aunt Azula is awful! I can see why my parents hate her so much!

The fourth day in that cell was probably the most confusing day of my life. Ling appeared earlier than usual, worried.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"It's your crazy aunt. She's going to turn your side," Ling said. He started pacing in front of me.

"What?" I asked.

"She's going to make you turn on your parents and join her," explained Ling.

"What?!" I asked again, more frantically.

"Huméi, I won't let this happen. We're escaping. Tonight," Ling said.

I became frightened. Aunt Azula was horrible now; what if she caught us running away? Ling and I might never see each other again.

That night Ling came and opened my cell door. I was ready.

"Ready?" he asked me. I nodded.

"Huméi, whatever happens, I love you," Ling said.

"I-I love you too," I said. I would have never known it before that night but it was true. I did love him.

Ling embraced me and we kissed. "Come on," Ling said, breaking the kiss, "Let's go save your cousins."

We walked out the cell door and right smack into the middle of three someones!


End file.
